M. Raju (45, name changed), a father of two, runs a taxi service in the city. Despite not being tech-savvy, Raju taught himself to operate a Facebook account, and is now a regular on the social media portal.
A quick look at his wall indicates that Raju holds a deep interest in politics, as almost all of his posts are centred round a particular political party.
From the comfort of his home, Raju quietly does his best to spread the word on his political preferences, hoping to connect with other netizens. “My posts resonate with a large online audience, and their ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ encourage me to continue doing so,” says Raju.
Win-win situation
With the advent of social media, there are many others like Raju who seek to leverage their online presence to drum up support for their favoured political party. It is a win-win situation for political parties too, as social media offers a large platform for politicians to reach out to new voters and spread awareness on their manifestos, as well as a chance to take an occasional dig at rivals.
Tailored posts
Political parties are ensuring that they stay on top of the social media ball game, by tailoring and curating posts that would connect with different target audiences, which include college students, homemakers, middle-class working men and women, and people living in rural areas.
On Facebook, a number of videos are being made either to highlight a particular political party or to take a swipe at an opponent. A new trend is the use of memes to drive home a message, along with a dash of humour. Apart from political campaigning, social media has also become a platform for taking surveys and organising debates.
On Instagram, where young, educated voters are more in number, the TDP has set up pages where it regularly posts on employment, tourism, IT sector, airports, and developmental activities. The YSRCP is also active on the portal, with various pages dedicated to countering government claims on implementation of schemes and pending projects.
“Till the last elections, text messages, phone calls, and mails were used to reach out to the public, but now social media has proved to be the more effective medium due to its huge audience. It is also of no cost. Even an auto-rickshaw driver these days has a Facebook account,” said K. Harish, a software employee from the city.
Heavyweights on the web
Among the politicians from Visakhapatnam region, HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao has a large number of followers on social media. His daily programmes, press conferences, and interactions with public are posted live on social media.
Yelamanchali MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu has a Facebook page through which he posts regular updates on his programmes.
MLA (West) P.V.G.R. Naidu, MLA (South) Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar, and politician Konathala Ramakrishna are among many others who have created their own Facebook pages.
Apart from individual pages, hundreds of fan pages have been created by supporters from various regions. Some of these pages are titled TDP North, YSRCP South, Jagan Army, and TDP Youth Vizag.
“Even during last elections, social media played important role. But back then, there were only youngsters. Now, there are people from all sections of society and also people from villages, on whom social media campaigning has an impact. However, the public should be able to discern fake news, and not cast their vote only by seeing what is on social media,” said Mr. Jitendra Chowdhary, an entrepreneur and CEO of Pixcy.